Five Days and Counting

We are almost at the finish line. If you could compare each school year with running a marathon, this time of year is like the last 385 yards to the end. Everybody is ready to be done with school. Especially the teachers.

This weekend was a little taste of summer for me. Kaia went off to New York to celebrate her sister's bachelorette party and I stayed in Eau Claire so I could march in the Memorial Day parade with my bands. I spent a lot of time with my student teacher. On Friday we went to Minneapolis to see the Minnesota Orchestra play Petrushka and the Bartok 2nd violin concerto. It was a great concert and it inspired me to buy $50 worth of cds at Chepo Records in Uptown. Good times. I also went to two graduation parties with my student teacher and we went out for dinner on Saturday night.

On Sunday I went to St. Paul to see my friend Chris. We grilled out and had a bonfire where we managed to take down a glider that he's had since college. Here is a picture of what happened when he came to Eau Claire and had a bonfire at my house a couple of weeks ago:

That's a TV stand from our college apartment. Nothing like hacking old furniture to bits in the middle of the night with an axe and then throwing them on to a roaring bonfire. The glider met a similar fate on Sunday.

Monday was the Memorial Day parade. I marched with my two bands in our Eau Claire parade in the morning. Here is a picture of "responsible Gene" with the band:

If you want to see more pictures check out the North High School Band Parent Webpage.

Afterward my student teacher and I went for a tube ride down the Chippewa River and then grilled out. I picked up Kaia at the airport in town around 5 PM yesterday, thus ending my "bachelor weekend". All in all it was fun and I didn't kill or injure myself (either by drowning, a horrible bonfire accident, or by starvation). I guess I can take care of myself after all, although it is awesome to have Kaia back home.

Now I just have to survive the next five days!